Provides that employees of the canal corporation are employees of the canal corporation, the state of New York and the thruway authority for purposes of the workers' compensation law

3 Co-sponsors

• Ruben Diaz
• Ruth Hassell-Thompson
• Kevin S. Parker

Title of bill

An act to amend the public authorities law, in relation to the workers' compensation law application to employee status

Purpose of the bill

This bill would limit Canal Corporation employees to receiving workers' compensation benefits for an injury that occurs within the scope of employment and would close a loophole in current law which allows a Canal employee to sue the State of New York and the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) for recovery for the same injury.

Summary of provisions

This bill would amend Public Authorities Law (PAL) §382(5) to provide that employees of the Canal Corporation shall be deemed to be employees of the Canal Corporation, the State and the NYSTA for the purposes of applying the Workers' Compensation Law.

Existing law

PAL §382 created the Canal Corporation as a public benefit corporation that is a subsidiary of the NYSTA. PAL §382(5) provides that employees of the Canal Corporation generally shall not be deemed to be employees of the NYSTA. Canal Law .6(1) provides the Canal System shall remain the property of the State as required by the State Constitution §XV(1).

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

Similar bills have been introduced in prior years. See S. 4056,2005/2006 (referred to Transportation); S.4892, 2003/2004 (committed to Rules); S.5201/A.9027, 2001/2002 (passed Senate in 2001, remained in Senate Transportation Committee in 2002 and remained in Assembly Corporations Committee both years).

Statement in support

Recently, a Canal Corporation employee was injured within the scope of employment, and while collecting workers' compensation benefits from the Canal Corporation, she also sued the State and the NYSTA. Even though the Canal Corporation is a subsidiary of the NYSTA and its annual maintenance and operations needs of approximately $80 million are funded by the NYSTA, in July 2009 the Appellate Division found the NYSTA liable for damages to the Canal Corporation employee and cited PAL §382(5) as a basis for its decision. Buckmann v. State of New York, 64 A.D.3d 1137 (4th Dept. 2009). This outcome permits Canal Corporation employees to "double dip" and receive both Workers' Compensation benefits and tort recovery against essentially the same public entity. This bill would rectify this and put Canal employees in the same position as State agency and other authority employees with respect to Workers' Compensation coverage.

Budget implications

This bill would save the State money by eliminating "double dipping."

Effective date

This bill would take effect immediately.